I know the Mariah Carey song is hated because its overused, but its also objectively a well produced piece of pop music.
My favorite though is O Holy Night. Performed well I want to stop and listen to it. It moves me, and I dont give enough of a fuck about religion to call myself an athiest.
Fairytale of New York, the original by the Pogues is great and the punk rock cover by No Use For A Name is a total banger.
12 days of Christmas by Bob and Doug Mckenzie
Rebel Navidad, mixed by DJ Cummerbund
Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John and Yoko.
You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
The Pentatonix version is fire.
I celebrate Christmas (not as festive as some people but still) but I generally am apathetic to Christmas music at best. That being said, Carol of the Bells by Transiberian Orchestra still kicks ass and I would say it is the one Christmas song that I would actively and willingly listen to.
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White Christmas, which was written by Irving Berlin, who was Jewish!
I like it because of how intricately the melody is written. It ebbs and flows perfectly against the chord progression and feels much closer to a jazz standard than most other Christmas songs.
With such lines as
If it has to be Christmas for you to be nice
You’re an asshole
If you think the season is the reason
You’re a piece of shit
And calling people spineless if they can only make a change for the better if it’s New Year’s and hints that so much of the holiday just appearances
I’m with you on team “O holy night”, my favourite version is Andy Williams’, closely followed by Perry Como’s!
Pogues, Fairytale of New York:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8
Low, Just Like Christmas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIbha-783eQ
Tom Waits, Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxVo5mjK4eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1v7HakNz4E
I know nobody will believe me but I genuinely enjoy Last Christmas by Wham. I used to hate it but it grew on me similarly to Never Gonna Give You Up.
I’m with you on both counts.
Not sure if it counts, but John Coltrane playing “My Favorite Things”. I got that track on some best of Coltrane collection for Christmas when I was in grade school. It eventually became both my favorite Christmas song and really got me into jazz. It’s still the default version that pops into my head when I think of that song, not Julie Andrews singing it in The Sound of Music.
This is the only video I could find outside of Spotify. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIhoC89kVVQ
I really like Chris Rea’s “Driving home for Christmas”, but have to say this version by Angelina Jordan is superb